Fraudulent Calls Expected to Rise in 2019

A recent report is not looking good for anyone using a cell phone. First Orion – a call management and protection service – predicts nearly half of all cell phone calls will be fraudulent by 2019. 

The report analyzed over 50 billion calls made to cell phones over the past 18 months. In 2017, about 3.7 percent of total calls were fraudulent – and that jumped to 29.2 percent this year. That number is predicted to rise to 44.6 percent next year. 

The FCC is reportedly working on ways to prevent callers from manipulating caller ID numbers. If you receive a fraudulent call, it’s recommended to just hang up and report it to local authorities. The Department of Ag, Trade, and Consumer Protection reports that consumers lose more than $40 billion a year to fraudulent callers.